Joseph Root wrote to Charles Robinson from Lawrence, Kansas Territory, informing him of a development that was splitting the Republican (anti-slavery) Party. Root mentioned that a large majority of the free state House members had begun to call themselves "Radicals," or extreme Republicans. He stated that he would leave the party if, in order to be a Republican, he had to be a member of the "Jim Lane Montgomery Men." Root also informed Robinson that a court had been established in Lawrence in order to try violent offenders from Linn, Lykins, and Bourbon counties.

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